Posts

WARNING: GRAPHIC. An assassination doesn’t normally provide much opportunity for self-defense, but this one caught on camera still can teach us some significant Active Self Protection lessons and therefore gain some redemption from a senseless act.

Original video: http://get-asp.com/tc93 (WARNING: this site is very, very NSFW and filled with adult content…strongest warning possible)

1. As always, situational awareness is always your best friend. This is doubly true when your chosen profession is one that you can make enemies, such as an attorney. Had this man been in condition yellow he MIGHT have seen this client coming, and MIGHT have had a second or two to defend himself. There are no guarantees, of course, but he might have had a chance.

2. Spiritual fitness is important, ASPers. You don’t get to decide your day of death in advance very often, and being at peace with God before you meet Him is the ultimate in ASP. So please, make peace with your Maker while you have time.

3. As a bystander, you must get away from the Bystander Effect and ACT. These bystanders tried to somewhat take cover behind their tables and hide a little, but their efforts were ineffective at best. Thankfully for them the murderer meant them no harm and so they lived, but we cannot count on that one iota. When the shooting starts, have your ASP covered and take decisive action to protect yourself.

4. I don’t know that there is much that the victim could have done once the shooting starts, but if he was aware and if he had seen the man coming even with a second to prepare, he might have been able to go IN to the attacker rather than away and perhaps defended himself while only being shot once or not at all. It would have taken some significant emotional fitness for sure.

Riding a motorcycle gives freedom, maneuverability, and fun. It’s also reason for practicing Active Self Protection, because a motorcycle jacking like this is easier to fall victim to than a carjacking. How could he have protected himself, do you think?

1. While in a car or on a motorcycle, recognize that stoplights are transitional spaces, especially in urban areas with a lot of foot traffic. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers. While moving, your car or bike is relatively safe from carjacking or motorcycle jacking. While stopped, you’re more vulnerable.

2. What this needs, then, starts with situational awareness. If you’re in an urban environment especially, be aware of pedestrians near where you are stopping. If possible, don’t stop your bike right next to the curb, but choose the middle lane or between cars (if lane splitting is legal in your city). Keeping some distance and an obstacle between you and danger is always wise.

3. I like my motorcycle and am loathe to scratch it, but if you’re attacked you’ve got to be willing to dump the bike to engage the attackers. A motorcycle jacking is not the time to worry about your chrome! If they steal the bike the chrome is gone anyway, so if you’re attacked you’ve got to have the emotional fitness to just let it go and defend yourself.

4. Multiple attackers are the norm more than the exception anymore, so make sure your training encompasses multiple attackers.

5. A force multiplier is a good thing to have along with you. A good pepper spray would have gone a long way here, if it was available and legal in his city.

Do you practice shooting at 7 yards and beyond? You might well need that skill to protect yourself or someone else! This officer in Mexico City practiced great Active Self Protection to keep these carjackers from hurting someone else.

1. We learn that there will be times that you can’t just drive away from them! This might be better termed an armed robbery than a carjacking, but there was nowhere for this person to run to. The cars all around prevented escape in the car. Carjackers pick people who are victims that they can corner, so sometimes you have to be able to simply fight where you are and stand your ground.

2. Carjackers travel in packs! Two or three opponents are not uncommon, so make sure that your defensive plan includes multiple attackers. Your training should regularly include multiple attackers and how to successfully defend yourself against them.

3. Marksmanship matters. This officer had a shot of 7-10 yards or so, with a terrible backstop. He had to put the shot on target to be able to stop these guys and not endanger others. Do you practice shooting at 7 yards? I hope you do, and hope you do it until you can get reliable hits.

4. Notice that the officer didn’t get tunnel vision on the one carjacker that he shot. He maintained awareness of the others who ran off, which is excellent! Keeping aware of what is going on keeps you from getting ambushed as you recover from the fight.

5. Notice as well that the officer shot to stop the threat, and that was enough. It was a psychological stop and perhaps a neuromuscular incapacitation of his legs, but he didn’t keep shooting once the threat stopped. That said, he went and got the gun in the guy’s waistband so that the threat couldn’t re-emerge, and that was excellent as well!

6. Even with multiple attackers, when shots are fired many times the gang will scatter. You won’t often have to fight 4 or 5 carjackers or other attackers, because once they realize that the force equation has tipped against them, they run for safety. They’re looking for victims, not fights, so when they encounter a fight they find alternate things to do with their day.

Intro

WARNING: GRAPHIC. Are you prepared for a real knife attack? Not a Hollywood scene, but a real life, honest-to-goodness knife attack? An awful lot of training I see out there is directed towards single attacks and telegraphed movement, but Active Self Protection exists to realities of attacks so that we can learn how to defend ourselves from what really happens.

Video

Video Download

Guest Message

Video Lessons

How do I protect myself against a knife?

It takes great emotional fitness to really survive a knife attack when you’re unarmed. Emotional fitness, the ability to present a situation to ourselves so as to strengthen our inner self to face and overcome the situation, can be trained and must be maximized. It is scary stuff to fight against a knife-wielding attacker, but doing it in training again and again can give us confidence and inner strength to do so successfully. So hit the mat!

Recognize that real-life knife attacks are fast, brutal, repeated, and not telegraphed. I see a lot of “knife techniques” in martial arts and combative schools taught against a single thrust with the assumption that the defender will stop the attack and disarm the attacker on the first strike, but that is not really realistic in my opinion unless you’re a master who gets really lucky as well. The best you can probably hope for in real life is to deflect the first attack and buy a brief moment to weather the ambush and regain composure for the second strike that is coming immediately.

The Five Ds are the larger general principle to work on when facing an armed opponent, and this holds true for knife attacks again and again. Deflect, Dominate, Distract, Disarm, Disable. If you practice them as principles to prioritize in self-defense they will certainly help you in a real fight.

Empty-handed skills are crucial in surviving a knife attack. I carry a firearm every day and recommend that you do, too, but there is no way that you will be able to immediately draw a firearm in this kind of attack. You must have empty-handed skills to weather the ambush to get to your gun!

Spiritual fitness is the foundational fitness and the foundation of covering your ASP. Several of these victims simply didn’t survive the ambush, and there is no guarantee any of us will either in a real ambush against a knife-wielding attacker. Make peace with God so that if today is your day to meet your Creator, you’re ready! And then train like you want that meeting to be a long ways down the road.